Ryan S

he/him

5.0

(21)

Timezone

America/new York

Identity

Podcaster

About Ryan S

Hello storytellers. I am a GM who ran his first game at 13 and have loved the hobby ever since. I lover RPGs off the beaten path with a strong story telling focus. I am also a avid board game and wargamer. I love Sci-Fi, fantasy, and all types of story telling.

At a glance

1 year on StartPlaying

41 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Voices

Average response time: 14 hours

Response rate: 50%

Featured Prompts

I got started GMing...

When I was 13, me and my buddies all pitched in to buy the Star Wars RPG (old RCR edition)and I had to learn by reading the book. no videos to watch or people to learn form. it was terrible... but we tried again and again and it got better each time. and 20+ years later I am still learning!

My 3 systems I'd bring to a desert island would be

Genesys- I can run all the games all the time with it. narrative dice help keep every game fresh and different. any PBTA game but probably the classic apocalypse world. simple and fast when you don't want to fuss with all the rules. Pathfinder 2ed when I do want to fuss with all the rules.

When I'm not running games I'm...

Playing board or minis games. I work in social services so I need to get my daily does of escapism in. Games and Movies help me do that. I am just happy to have a community to bring along with me.

How Ryan S runs games

I am a Player focused collative story teller. I want to take what you bring to the narrative and make it our focus, not just run an adventure that any group of heroes can slot into. wile combat and mechanics of a game are important, they take a bit of a back set to the Goals, fears, strengths and fawns of the the PCs. I tend to do a lot more theater of the mind over mins and maps giving us all as players the ability to imagine wants around us. I like to run all kinds of games form high octane action, down to charter focused drama and even some suspense and horror if the story calls for it.

Featured Prompts

I prep by

Looking at past sessions. I end game sessions by asking my player the best part of the session and let that drive what I focus my prep on for the next game night.

Rules are...

A good suggestion, but for the sake of story or pace then can be waved away. no page number will stop me or one of my players from doing something awesome.

When it comes to voices

I do a lot of them... Badly. but its all in good fun. I think it helps me remember we are all just playing a game and to keep it lose and have fun.

Ryan S's ideal table

Players who want to engage with the world we have built and each other rather then numbers on a character sheet. People who swing for the fences and take risks with the story. people who can fail forward and are more interested in something interesting happing rather then just succeeding all the time. Good vibes are a must and a community focus, we are all here to let each other shine.

Featured Prompts

If you're into ___, you're going to love my table

Hard Sci-fi, a bit of cosmic horror and hard choices that matter and you will feel the effects for session after session. I like to explore gray areas where you cant just make black and white judgment calls. we are all a mix of renegade and paragons, and I like my games to reflect that.

I love it when a player

Takes a risk where none of us know how the chips will fall. Not just rinks in tense dice rolls but with the role play and motive they give the characters. when we enter a scene and have no idea how we want it to end up is what I love.

I think min/maxing...

is boring. I love characters with flaws! makes them more real and dynamic. nobody likes a marry sue. Min/maxing is forced on the math on the sheet and not the character the sheet represents.